Sunday, January 2, 2011

A Trip Back To Family TV

A while ago, we journeyed back to the days of early television. It seemed to be a fun trip, and like movies that are enjoyable, we often hope there's a sequel. After the response to our television trip, I thought it might be fun to travel back once more to the TV days of yore. See if you can remember these not included in part one

I offer you (in no particular order)Beat the Champ (Chuck Healy), Jungle Jay Show, Rocketship 7 (Dave Thomas and Promo the Robot), Commander Tom Show, Dialing for Dollars, Bowling for Dollars, Sing Along with Mitch (follow the bouncing ball), Liberace, Avengers, Mission Impossible (the Steven Hill days), Amos and Andy, Three Stooges, My Three Sons, Captain Video and his Video Rangers (I vaguely remember), The Fugitive, NBC Saturday Baseball Game of the Week (Curt Gowdy), The Early NFL Pregame Show (Brent Musburger, Irv Cross, Phyllis George, and later, Jimmy the Greek), Jackie Gleason Show (Joe the Bartender w/Frank Fontaine as Crazy Guggenheim), Rowan and Martin's Laugh In, Julia (Diahann Carroll), Bill Cosby Show (1969), I Spy, Henry Fonda Show, Courtship of Eddie's Father, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Bugs Bunny/Road Runner, Outer Limits, there was a weekly golf competition featuring Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player (can't remember what it was called), Bishop Sheen Hour, Alvin and the Chipmunks (Producer David Seville real name was Ross Bagdasarian), Pete and Gladys, Hazel, The Lawman, The Rifleman, It Takes a Thief, Secret Agent, Rin Tin Tin, Girl from U.N.C.L.E, Adam 12, Dean Martin Show, McHale's Navy, CPO Sharkey, Lost in Space, Gumby, Davey and Goliath, Love that Bob, Please Don't Eat the Daisies, My Mother the Car, Ann Sothern Show, My Little Margie, Mr. Peepers, Joey Bishop Show, Lucas Tanner, Peter Gunn, Dinah Shore Show, Stoney Burke, The $64,000.00 Question, You Asked For It, Richard Diamond - Private Detective (the voice and legs of Mary Tyler Moore), Custer, The Law and Mr. Jones, Actor Arnold Stang, Candid Camera, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Patty Duke Show, Peyton Place, Gilligan's Island, December Bride, Superman, Batman, The Green Hornet, The Millionaire, Carol Burnett Show, Marcus Welby M.D., The Lucy Show, Circus Boy, Hogan's Heroes, The Glen Campbell Hour, Ironside, Annie Oakley, Honey West, The Wild, Wild West, Hawaiian Eye, M Squad, The Galloping Gourmet, Hee Haw, Slapstick funnyman Soupy Sales, Tennessee Ernie Ford (Comedian, Actor, Singer), The Ernie Kovacs Show, Channel 4 Wrestling (featuring wrestler Ilio DiPaolo and Jamestown referee Basil "Cappy" Caprino), All in the Family, I Dream of Jeannie, Big Valley, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, Broken Arrow, I Remember Mama, Branded, Toast of the Town (Prelude to the Ed Sullivan Show), Get Smart, Munsters, Addams Family, The Original Home Run Derby, Bachelor Father (Uncle Bentley and Peter, the House Boy), Star Trek (early episodes), Fantastic Voyage (1968 series based on the movie), The Real McCoys, 77 Sunset Strip ("Kookie" Byrnes), Surfside 6 (Troy Donahue), Maverick, Green Acres, It's Academic, Bozo the Clown, I'm Dickens He's Fenster, Laramie, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Yancy Derringer, Ding Dong School, Rat Patrol, Route 66, Checkmate, Bewitched, Jetsons, Little Rascals, Bowery Boys, This is Your Life, Your Hit Parade, Family Affair, High Chaparral, Brady Bunch, Daktari, Here's Lucy, Dating Game, Love on a Rooftop, Alias Smith and Jones, Our Miss Brooks, Beanie and Cecil, Sea Hunt, Run for Your Life, Zane Grey Theater, Wait 'til Your Father Gets Home (animated show featuring the voice of Tom Bosley as the father), Love American Style, No Time for Sergeants, Johnny Quest, Here Come the Brides, The Saint, My World and Welcome To It, Judd for the Defense, Barnaby Jones, Roaring Twenties, Gentle Ben, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Mr. Novak, Flipper, Mannix, F Troop, That Girl, The Farmer's Daughter, Mr. Roberts

WOW!! You'd think all we ever did was watch television. We sometimes tried, but our parents wouldn't let that happen. These shows were just memorable, maybe because, most of the time, watching them was a family activity. We were all together in the living room. Sometimes mom would get out her big frying pan and cover and make popcorn, frantically shaking the pan to avoid burning it. Dad sat in "his" chair, mom in "hers" (sometimes knitting), and the rest of us either found a spot on the couch or sprawled out on the floor. The shows themselves let us laugh together and be together. It was a time when the entertainment was family entertainment, intended for viewing by the family and enjoyed by the family. The shows brought families together and many of the shows almost mirrored the lives of the families watching them. Maybe that's why we remember them so vividly, because they were MORE than a couple of hours each evening. They brought warmth to those couple of hours, warmth whose embers still smolder within many of us today.

Source: http://post-journal.com

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